An intervention is a highly emotional situation with the potential to cause anger, resentment, or a feeling of betrayal. Whether you need help staging an intervention, finding family support services, or locating a rehab center near you, our dedicated addiction specialists are standing by to take your call. Unfortunately, many people with drug or alcohol addiction are in denial that they have a problem in the first place. It usually takes the concern and efforts of family and friends to encourage people to go to rehab.
How to Do an Intervention for a Family Member
It should be easy to find and convenient enough for all attendees. It’s also important to choose a private space, so sensitive topics can be discussed freely. Everyone involved in an intervention should prepare ahead of time.
Types of Interventions
Knowing when to intervene can be difficult, especially considering how normalized drinking alcohol is in our society. For some people, it can be difficult to know when alcohol use has gone from a casual pastime to an actual addiction. If you’re not sure when your loved one drinks, consider holding the intervention first thing in the morning.
Conduct a Brief Intervention: Build Motivation and a Plan for Change
The number of people who have trouble with alcohol may be larger, as 25 percent report binge drinking, or consuming four to five drinks within two hours. Often interventions occur without an intervention professional taking part. An intervention gives your loved one a chance to make changes before things get even worse. The only way for interventions to be successful is if they are based in love, honesty, and support. A supervised, medical detox can help people avoid these uncomfortable and potentially dangerous withdrawal complications.
- A helpful method for this is to have everyone write a letter to read aloud in the meeting.
- Ultimately, an alcoholic must put an end to their enabling behavior for an alcoholic to realize that they need help.
- From this intervention, you can hopefully direct the addict toward a doctor, detox program, or support group that can help them face the realities of addiction and get on the path to recovery.
- They may burst out in anger and claim that help is not needed or may be resentful and accuse you of betrayal.
Just like any other medical condition, people with substance use disorders deserve to have a range of treatment options available to them. Scientists are working to develop a larger menu of pharmaceutical treatments that could be tailored to individual needs. Cognitive–behavioral therapy can take place one-on-one with a therapist or in small groups. This form of therapy is focused on identifying the feelings how to do an intervention for an alcoholic and situations (called “cues”) that contribute to heavy drinking and managing stress that can lead to a return to drinking. The goal is to change the thought processes that lead to alcohol misuse and to develop the skills necessary to cope with everyday situations that might trigger alcohol misuse. Addressing your concerns for a family member, friend, or loved one often feels overwhelming and daunting.
- The intervention specialist or members of the group will then persuade the alcoholic to sit and listen to what is being said.
- In addition, Addiction Intervention can provide help finding medical detox, Inpatient, and Outpatient treatment programs.
- That group will then go on to form the intervention team—the larger group of friends and relatives who will be participating in the intervention.
- Once the location is chosen and the person arrives on the scene, the intervention specialist, or a designated facilitator, should step up to introduce themselves and explain what’s happening.
- Children and teenagers can be discouraged from drinking or experimenting with alcohol when their families get together to discuss the dangers of it.
- Preparing statements for an intervention means knowing what will be said, and what to say, ahead of time.
- The basic steps of a successful alcohol intervention are listed below.
- Many addiction treatment providers limit contact with those outside the program to one degree or another.
The addiction may also be causing tension between the addicted person and the wider family. Having an interventionist attend the intervention is unnecessary, but it may help. If you lack the vocabulary or experience to convince your loved one to change, an interventionist can be helpful. If someone important in the person’s life cannot attend, they should write a letter. Review it in advance and read it to the person with substance use disorder during the intervention.
An interventionist can help the family understand the issues the addicted person faces. They can also help the addicted person get admitted to a dual-diagnosis treatment facility. These facilities specialize in treating both addiction and mental illness. It might also include a member of the person’s faith or an interventionist to direct the conversation. Still, even if your loved one doesn’t lash out, he or she may still refuse your request to go to rehab.
If a potential participant is dealing with untreated addiction issues of their own, it’s best to exclude them from the intervention. Avoid inviting people who may not be able to control their emotions and could lash out at the intervention’s target or interfere with the process as well. Attendees should genuinely care for the person experiencing addiction.
Who Should Be on The Team?
A helpful method for this is to have everyone write a letter to read aloud in the meeting. Having an addiction professional’s help with the preparations and the intervention itself may increase the chances of success. Others may want one-on-one therapy for a longer time to deal with issues like anxiety or depression. Alcohol use can have a big effect on the people close to you, so couples or family therapy can help, too.
